Mrs. Yang heard Xiaoguo's voice in the house, so she peeked outside. After seeing Yang Jia go out to open the door, she did not move, but sat back in the house and waited for her to come in.

But after a while, not only did Xiaoguo not come in, but even Yang Jia went out and didn't come back until half a day later.

"Why didn't your sister-in-law Xiaoguo come in?"

"She's out, so she asked me to look after her house for a few days."

Yang Jia gestured to her with the key in his hand.

"You went out again?" Sister Yang stood up as soon as she heard it and asked hurriedly, "Why did you go out again?"

"I don't know." Yang Jia shook his head and said, "He looked very anxious. He must have made a last-minute decision because of something urgent."

Mrs. Yang nodded to show that she understood, and sat back disappointedly.

When will she come back this time? She won't have to wait until I give birth before coming back, right?

–

It was not until dark that Xiaoguo arrived at Xiaoyu Village.

Without daring to stay, she said goodbye to the villagers who brought her here and trotted towards Xiaozhu's home alone.

The villagers behind him swallowed the words that were about to come out of their mouths and shook their heads helplessly. At this time, the person might have already...

At this moment, the small fishing village was plunged into darkness, with only the smoke and the smell of food coming from each household.

When we arrived at Xiaozhu's house, the door was open. Looking out, it was pitch black with only a faint candlelight flickering.

Xiaoguo's heart was beating wildly. He didn't know if the man had fallen asleep or if something had happened. Why was it so quiet inside, yet the door was still open? It was very strange.

"Xiaozhu? Yuling?"

Xiaoguo stopped at the door and called inside while looking around.

"Xiaozhu? Yuling?"

Xiaoguo called out again, but when she heard nothing, she walked inside carefully.

It was too dark around her and she couldn't see the ground clearly. For fear of falling, she could only move forward slowly.

According to her memory, she prepared to go to the room where Zhao Yuyan was resting. When she passed by the table at the door, she picked up the half-burned candle on it.

Because it has been burning for too long and the wick has not been removed, the candle flame is a little weak at this moment.

Xiaoguo picked up something and fiddled with the wick, then removed the unused wick. The shaky candle finally regained its steady flame.

With the candlelight, she felt more at ease. At least she could see clearly and no longer had to pretend to be blind.

Zhao Yuyan's house was clean and tidy, with no signs of anyone living there.

Seeing this, Xiaoguo actually knew what was going on, but he didn’t take a final look at it…

Inside the house, Xiaozhu and Yuling sat in the attic, looking at the dark sky outside through the open window.

"Xiaozhu, why is it so dark?"

Yu Ling's voice rang softly. Xiao Zhu looked back at her and said cautiously, "It will light up in the future."

"Will it?"

"Of course, I will."

Xiaozhu was very sure that the sky would not be dark forever. The stars were just hidden tonight and would appear again tomorrow.

"What is that?"

Suddenly, a streak of light flashed across the dark sky, but when she looked carefully, it had disappeared.

Xiaozhu looked in the direction of her finger, but saw nothing.

Yu Ling retracted her finger, looked at Xiao Zhu dejectedly and asked, "Where do people go after they die?"

"Well... the old village chief said that after death, people will turn into stars in the sky and accompany their living relatives in heaven."

Xiaozhu pointed to two very faint stars and said, "Look, they are my family."

After hearing this, Yu Ling looked up at the sky and squinted hard to see the two dim stars.

"Then where is my mother?"

There were no other stars in the sky, and Yu Ling's confused questions also confused Xiao Zhu.

Afraid that she would be sad, he tried hard to think of how to answer her, and his eyes were also busy searching for the shadows of the stars in the sky.

Yu Ling became more and more disappointed and lowered her head in silence.

Just when Xiaozhu was scratching her head anxiously, Xiaoguo suddenly leaned out half of his body and said, "The shooting star you saw just now was your mother~"

The sudden sound scared the two of them. The two little girls subconsciously hugged each other and looked towards the source of the sound in horror.

"Who's talking?"

"Who are you! Why can't we see you!"

Yuling and Xiaozhu hugged each other tightly, looking into the darkness tremblingly, their eyes unable to focus, and their bodies moving backwards uneasily.

Seeing that she had retreated to the corner with no room left, she couldn't control her sobbing.

"Stop crying." Xiao Guo looked at the two helplessly, "How could you see me if you didn't turn on the lights?"

The two of them stopped crying, Xiao Guo sighed, and then walked away.

Yuling and Xiaozhu heard the sound of someone going down the ladder, and soon after, they heard the sound of someone going up the ladder. They swallowed nervously and stared at the door.

A burst of warm candlelight first came into the room, and then Xiaoguo's face was exposed in the candlelight.

"Sister Xiaoguo!"

"Sister Xiaoguo!"

The fear in Yuling and Xiaozhu's hearts faded away, and they ran over together excitedly.

Xiaoguo was dragged into the attic by two people, sandwiched in the middle, one on the left and one on the right.

Before she could say anything, the two of them started firing like little cannons.

"Sister Xiaoguo, when did you come?"

"Sister Xiaoguo, did you come here by yourself? Where's Zhuangzhuang?"

"Sister Xiaoguo..."

"Sister Xiaoguo, you..."

Xiao Guo covered her mouth with one hand and said with a smile, "I came here by myself. I just arrived and walked in when the door was open."

Xiaozhu looked at Yuling and said curiously, "Hey, the door is open?"

“…I think I forgot to turn it off.”

Yu Ling thought about it carefully, then spoke in a low voice.

Xiaoguo looked at the two of them helplessly. It turned out that they forgot to close the door. These two children were too worrying.

"...Sister Xiaoguo, my mother passed away this morning."

"…Yeah." Xiao Guo put down the candle and asked sadly, "How is she doing recently?"

"My mother said these were the happiest months she had ever lived. She said she had never felt so relaxed and happy as she did at that time."

All Yu Ling could think about was her mother's last moments. The smile on her face was bitter, yet also filled with an indescribable joy.

Xiaoguo also thought of Zhao Yuyan's appearance and couldn't control her sadness. This poor woman just left like that. At least she was happy before she left. As long as she was happy, that's enough.

"Oh, Sister Xiaoguo." Yu Ling looked at Xiaoguo seriously. She remembered what she had just said and asked impatiently, "My mother also turned into a star to accompany me, right?"

"Yes." Xiao Guo put away her sadness, nodded with a smile, and said seriously, "The shooting star that just passed by was your mother. She wanted to choose a bright and big star to accompany you in the sky."

"Won't she wait for me in the next life to decorate a new home for me?"

Yuling asked anxiously, she was going to be her mother's child in the next life, how could her mother turn into a star!

"After death, the soul will be decomposed into countless clones and spread out, or sink into the earth or float into the air or be absorbed by other animals and plants, become part of the surrounding environment, or be reincarnated."

Xiao Guo sighed slightly, then hugged Yu Ling with heartache, and continued softly, "She will become everything in the world, omnipresent. Every breath you take, every step you take, every tree, grass, or even flower you pass by, they are all your mother's incarnations. She will be by your side all the time, protecting you and accompanying you, until a hundred years later, when she returns to this world and continues the mother-daughter relationship."

"So, mother is everywhere, right? She didn't leave me, right? We will meet again in the next life, right?"

Yuling was eager to get a firm promise to comfort her heart that had lost its mother.

Xiao Guo said without hesitation, "Yes!"